Lib: don’t deport our Anzac mates

Australia should consider its historic­ ties with New Zealand forged by the Anzacs when deciding­ whether to deport Kiwis.

‘I greatly respect the Anzac tradition’: Liberal MP Jason Wood. Picture: Gary Ramage

Australia should consider its historic­ ties with New Zealand forged by the Anzacs when deciding­ whether to deport Kiwis, according to the chairman of the government-controlled migration committee.

The increase in deportations of New Zealand criminals has become a major point of tension in the bilateral relationship and NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern publicly rebuked Scott Morrison over the issue on his recent visit to Auckland.

Victorian Liberal Jason Wood is a member of the intelligence committee and has previously worked with the Victoria Police counter-terrorism unit. If the Coalition were to accept the recommendations, it could ease the numbers of New Zealanders ordered to leave Australia.

“If it’s historical, if it’s not a murder or a rape, then I think we should take their history of staying in the country as something placing a lot more weight on it,” Mr Wood told The Australian.

“And in particular, I greatly respect the Anzac tradition; that’s part of the reason why.”

The joint standing committee on migration report released last month recommended that the ministerial directions that govern deportations be revised to consider “the historic special immigration status of New Zealand citizens”.

It also recommended that all young New Zealanders living permanently in Australia be given access to student loans through the Higher Education Loan Program. “I just thought that was the right thing to do,’’ Mr Wood said. “Because I’ll give you another example, the child’s been here since the age of two or three and they can’t get access to (HELP) and it’s a loan and the intentio­n is to pay it back and they don’t get that opportunity.”

Labor members of the committee, including immigration spokesman Shayne Neumann, supported the recommendation about HELP loans.

However, Labor issued a dissenting report, saying broader changes were needed to ministerial directions and arguing for a review of the directions to consider the impact on New Zealanders.

“Evidence suggested the visa cancellations regime under the current government has resulted in non-citizens being detained for unnecessarily long periods of time and some detained indefin­itely, and … deportation for relatively minor crimes or offences committed 20 years ago,” the Labor MPs said.

Australia adjusted its laws in 2014, which led to a spike in deporta­tions of people with criminal records who had New Zealand citizenship but had lived their whole lives in Australia.

The immigration minister can cancel or refuse visas on character grounds under the Migrati­on Act. Mr Wood said there were too many cases of New Zealanders being deported­ for minor crimes.

Immigration Minister David Coleman said he would consider the recommendations and respon­d in due course.